Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Theodore Roethke

Quote by Theodore Roethke

Work

Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Theodore Roethke
Theodore Roethke

Theodore Roethke was an American poet known for his deep emotions and rich imagination. His poetry often explores themes of human emotion and the natural world, enjoying great popularity among readers. more

You May Also Like

“Faced with growing dissent, he turned the boat around, heading back the way they had come. One marine began to go mad, laughing hysterically, until he slumped over in silence, dead. Another man died shortly after, and then another. Their bodies were tossed into the sea. It took the surviving party close to two weeks to retrace its path, only to then realize that they had found the strait [of Magellan] all along. Now they had to start east all over again.”

SurvivalMadnessHungerBoatShipwreckedCastaways
Book:The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
Create image

“Madness is the key. Elijah laughed at the frenzied priests of Baal because he knew with prophetic certainty that they were mad; the hooligan boys who laughed at Elisha did so because they thought he – and his God – were mad. High priests, soldiers, crowds and thieves laughed at Christ during his trial and passion, sure that the wretched fellow was mad: he had insane delusions about rebuilding the Temple in three days and being the Son of God (just as today cartoonists may sketch a madman as someone who believes he is Napoleon).”

JesusChristianityLaughterMadness
Book:Laughter at the Foot of the Cross
Create image

“Oh, sure, one can overdo it, and our history is darkly stained with abortive religious movements inspired by messianic crackpots. But it appears to be a continuum: too much and you end up in the realm of a Jim Jones, David Koresh, or Charles Manson, all of whom were able to lead others into a maelstrom of paranoid delusion. In the cases of Jones and Koresh, one can only do armchair forensic psychiatry to try to guess their afflictions, but Manson, alive and well, is a diagnosed schizophrenic. However, if you get the metamagical thoughts and behaviors to the right extent and at the right time and place, then people might just get the day off from work on your birthday for a long time to come.”

JesusChristMadnessMental IllnessMessiahHolidaysPsychopathologyShamanJim JonesDavid Koresh
Book:The Trouble with Testosterone and Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament
Create image